The 27th World Handball Championship 2021!

[LTU_btc]

So far this championship looks like a joke. USA and Czech Republic being forced to withdraw from competition just few days before start of it. They will be replaced by Switzerland and North Macedonia, but they will have to play without any preparation basically.
Also, whole qualification to the tournament in Europe was cancelled in late phase of it and they simply send teams according to results of last European championship, what isn't fair IMO.
I don't have much knowledge about handball level outside Europe, but I imagine that for some African and Asian teams it will be difficult to compete and we may see some big scores.

I used to play handball when I was young and I remember the crazy amount of sweat we produced for every game (in a closed environment). How will they make sure that these guys will play under safe conditions? Who knows!
Anyway, I did not know Denmark was that good at it.

Same like every major sports competition, players and staff will be tested almost every day, they will live isolated in hotel, conditions are similar to NBA bubble, so conditions is really safe. I read somewhere that tournament will be not only without spectators, but also without journalists.

[Trofo]

First serious day of Championship today and nobody posting any picks, makes me sad  
I wanted to copy some good ideas and now you made me make my own so here it goes:

Belarus - Russia over 53,5 @1,75, my top pick today and I believe this should be an easy over game, odds on over are dropping all day and now you even have a problem getting 53,5 and maybe have to go for 54,5 but that should still pass. Both teams are playing quite fast and this over passed in the last 5/6 games between this sides.

Austria to not lose @1.8, They are better team for me and I am surprised they are not favorites here

France +3.5 @1.5, I am getting that Norway are favorits here and maybe even rightly so but 3.5 handicap against France is something we don't see very often and I have to take it.

Small stakes for first few days until I see how the teams actually perform.

[Lucius]

Belarus - Russia over 53,5 @1,75, my top pick today

The first half ended with as many as 30 goals (15-15), so this could pass very easily. By the way, I earned the most money on sports betting on the total number of goals in handball or the number of points in basketball. It's a pity that I don't have a little more time for some better analyzes, but the championship has just started, so maybe I'll make a few bets.

France +3.5 @1.5, I am getting that Norway are favorits here and maybe even rightly so but 3.5 handicap against France is something we don't see very often and I have to take it.

I believe that this is no longer the old France that was the absolute ruler of world handball, but until I see them in action, it is difficult to predict anything. They played the last two games with Serbia and lost the first game (in Serbia), and played a draw in France.

https://ehfeuro.eurohandball.com/men/2022/participating-teams/details/VDAxs4FiPA_D5jnphT7lmA/france/

[Trofo]

France +3.5 @1.5, I am getting that Norway are favorits here and maybe even rightly so but 3.5 handicap against France is something we don't see very often and I have to take it.

I believe that this is no longer the old France that was the absolute ruler of world handball, but until I see them in action, it is difficult to predict anything. They played the last two games with Serbia and lost the first game (in Serbia), and played a draw in France.

You have a point regarding France but they are always much more dangerous when it matters and their defense is unbreakable when it clicks. I am actually gonna reinvest profits from first game (over on Russia game, that one was free money) into Norway win. Perfect result for me is Norway win with 2 goals difference and that seems very likely to me.

Bold part is important here and that is why I said small stakes first few days until we have time to judge the teams. Big money bets for me start after the first group stage.

[tyKiwanuka]

Cape Verde is battling some outbreak also, but so far it looks like they are going to play, though they are still in Portugal as of now. They will play Hungary on Friday, HC-14.5 looks like a good bet under these circumstances.

By now Cape Verde has travelled to Egypt without 6 players and 4 staff members, amongst them their coach, according to local news site. The HC for Hungary went up to 17.5 and I am thinking about placing a bet on Cape Verde actually, because missing 6 players is probably not that much of a deal, if it isn't their best players. Unfortunately no names were mentioned, if someone has them available, please post.

We have 4 portuguese-speaking teams in Egypt, so Handball is on the rise in these countries and the majority of players from Cape Verde do actually play in some bigger leagues, so I doubt they are just cannon fodder:

The 23-man Cape Verde squad named for their Egypt 2021 training camp in Portugal in November featured 12 players based in Portugal, five in Cape Verde, three in Spain, and one each in France, Germany and Romania, with many having experience in Europe’s top leagues, including the EHF Champions League Men.

Missing all these players/staff could actually result in being even more motivated and glue this team together as a unit. We have seen it before, what this can do to the team spirit and also what it probably does to the opponent, like "they are missing 6 players, we will win this easily with minimal effort".
But if it's 6 top players missing for CV, then I would probably skip it......

[Trofo]

But if it's 6 top players missing for CV, then I would probably skip it......

Are you actually saying that you know who are top 6 Cape Verde players If that is true than I have to collect much more research and knowledge before changing tips with you on sort of equal basis.

I don't like the games today very much, all favorites will stomp the opposition it is just a question of handicap. I am playing just 2 games:
Croatia -6.5 @1.6, this should be a safe bet, we covered that handicap every time we played against Japan so I am expecting the same here. Over should be a good bet as well since we usually opted to overshoot Japan instead of trying to stop them with defense.

Angola +7.5 @1.55, Angola actually has favorable H2H with Qatar but this is not the same Qatar side. Qatar has a lot of foreigners playing for them. Yes that is allowed in Handball so they are big favorites here but I expect Angola to cover this handicap. This is just for beer money since I have no clue about real strength of Angola team.

[tyKiwanuka]

Are you actually saying that you know who are top 6 Cape Verde players

Well, you can just check who are these players playing in Spain, France, Germany and Romania - they should be the stars And the team page actually lists the key players and surprise surprise, it's five of the six players playing in these countries:

Key players: Delcio Pina (back), Leandro Semedo (back), Ivo Santos (back), Elcio Fernandes (goalkeeper), Edmilson Araujo (left back)

Semedo plays at León, currently #4 in Liga Asobal. Pina in La Rioja, even #3. I was looking for that Santos guy, because the website says he plays in Germany, but couldn't find him in the roster of Bergischer HC. Turns out he plays only for their second team

I think it's better to skip this, there are probably better things to bet on today I will follow the game though and come here bragging, if CV manages to beat the HC, lol.

[Cling18]

Yes, this competition should have been postponed! Look at the mess that is happening: Egypt has already a lot of troubles going on in the country and I think the least they can do now is to make sure that an handball competition will be covid risk-free.

-snip-

The whole format is wrong.

Or treat the game as training and let the guys have fun.

Would you do that as a professional player? I personally would not go there and risk my life (and career) to have some fun. 

Professional players are well-dedicated and they're willing to take the risk just to raise their flags and represent their countries.
It's just so sad that some players couldn't make it because of being infected by the virus but so far, most teams are doing great and they're all well-motivated. It has been a close match for France and Norway but I guess it wouldn't be a year for France again.

[Daniel91]

And already at the beginning of this competition, the first big surprise happened. Japan played 29:29 with one of the big favorites of the competition, Croatia.
Croatian players always seem to have the problem of underestimating weaker teams and a more relaxed approach to the match.
I hope the players will forget this match as soon as possible and play much more seriously remaining matches in the group.
I believe that very few people bet on this result and that the gains were great.

[Trofo]

And already at the beginning of this competition, the first big surprise happened. Japan played 29:29 with one of the big favorites of the competition, Croatia.

Not the only one. Spain played same 29-29 vs. Brazil but granted ours was a bigger disappointment, not even gonna comment on that game since the post would anyway get deleted due to language used


After tough showing from some favorites yesterday I am on underdogs side this time:
Switzerland +9.5 @1.51, This margin is quite big and I expect them to cover it, if Norway has big lead hopefully they will opt to rest some of the best players as well
Austria +11.5 @1.48, same as above and the margin is even bigger which makes this one even safer for me.

I am playing those 2 as a double for high stake. Never in the recent history in their H2H were this handicaps even close to being fulfilled. Hopefully they will not be today. I also have those two games as a smaller handicaps (Swiss +7,5, Austria+9,5) on my multi x5 tickets. Odds are much better around 1.8 per game and they should still come.

[Lucius]

I must admit that Japan pleasantly surprised me with their game, although the final result is the result of incredible oscillations in the game of Croatia (which was pointed out by their coach before the competition) which at some points was somewhere else, not on the field. With an incredible amount of misses, the Japanese goalkeeper had his day with several Japanese players who were a real enigma for the Croatian defense.

Japanese coach Dagur Sigurðsson (Iceland) has well thought out tactics and brought his team to Egypt even 10 days before the start of the competition and played 2 friendly matches with the host Egypt and lost both times (33-25&34-29)

[Trofo]

Good thing there is handball around, football kicked my ass today but I managed to end the day in small profit thanks to those 2 picks I posted above.



Did not check the markets and margins for tomorrow yet but I am again eyeing some handicaps on underdogs. Seems like the way to go in this competition, at least for now. Over market has also been a very good bet so far.

[tyKiwanuka]

Seems like the way to go in this competition, at least for now.

I think this is the way to go in general in a lot of sports. The smaller/weaker nations catch up very fast, while there is not that much room for improvement for the big nations. This is something I also observed in football in the various WC/EC qualifying competitions. Not only in Europe (well for EC obviously^^), but also in Asia, where football dwarfs nowadays are able to handle themselves very well against good opposition and can keep the scoreline close-ish often times despite huge HC's.


I wanted to recommend a bet here today, but totally forgot about the (early) starting time and while I was writing my post, the game had already started I then jumped in live myself, but abandoned my post:



Pre-match the line was even 70.5, which was insane imo and just inflated by the previous result from SK (80 goals in match against Slovenia, pre-match line o/u 58). Belarus had a high-scoring affair against Russia in their first match as well, but this was an outlier as well, the pre-match line was 54.5.

Then I had my eyes on Russia - only the HC - but didn't have the guts and in the end they even won as 8+ underdog Looks like there is at least one big upset per day, so who will it be tomorrow ? Maybe Poland can do something against Spain or Bahrain will beat Argentina.

[cryptofrka]

I'm observing mostly so far, waiting to get a clearer picture before placing some bigger bets.

It's been a really weird competition so far, I agree that over margins and handicaps on outsiders seem like the way to go for now. We are playing Angola today, handicap is 10,5 - the way we played against Japan makes me want to take this.

[Trofo]

It's been a really weird competition so far, I agree that over margins and handicaps on outsiders seem like the way to go for now. We are playing Angola today, handicap is 10,5 - the way we played against Japan makes me want to take this.

I am skipping it. We always have what I call "Croatia effect" when our team is playing. If we go high and mighty like before first game when everybody was talking about medals and nobody mentioned Japan we disappoint. When it is opposite and we start shitting on our team, they usually pool their strength and kick somebody ass. I feel like this will be total destruction of Angola or another game where we will be afraid for the points until the end. Maybe I will play something live later on.

Pre-match the line was even 70.5, which was insane imo and just inflated by the previous result from SK (80 goals in match against Slovenia, pre-match line o/u 58). Belarus had a high-scoring affair against Russia in their first match as well, but this was an outlier as well, the pre-match line was 54.5.

I have actually seen this and thought it is not possible that they are offering such big margin. Must be something I don't know about the game so I skipped betting on it. It was so overblown that I was sure I am missing something.


Don't like the markets today, all handicaps seem on point today so I am taking just Qatar to win against Japan. Japan was loosing all the games before Croatia and I think that it was a case of Croatia playing bad and not Japan playing good. Qatar is also nothing special so small stake for me and time for football and eSports to carry me today.

[virasog]

First serious day of Championship today and nobody posting any picks, makes me sad  
I wanted to copy some good ideas and now you made me make my own so here it goes:

Probably because not many people follow the handball here on bitcointalk. I have seen this first thread dedicated to handball in this section.
Can you tell me where are you betting on these matches ?

[cryptofrka]

I am skipping it. We always have what I call "Croatia effect" when our team is playing. If we go high and mighty like before first game when everybody was talking about medals and nobody mentioned Japan we disappoint. When it is opposite and we start shitting on our team, they usually pool their strength and kick somebody ass. I feel like this will be total destruction of Angola or another game where we will be afraid for the points until the end. Maybe I will play something live later on.

I agree in general, but we are just so bad. Our handball is pre - historic, I really feel this team will struggle with everybody during the tournament.

We are among the favorites, I'm aware - we always are. And I somehow feel we'll drag ourselves to a position from which we will fight for a medal again. But it has to be said - we are poor, and we have been for years already.

[Daniel91]

And already at the beginning of this competition, the first big surprise happened. Japan played 29:29 with one of the big favorites of the competition, Croatia.
Croatian players always seem to have the problem of underestimating weaker teams and a more relaxed approach to the match.
I hope the players will forget this match as soon as possible and play much more seriously remaining matches in the group.
I believe that very few people bet on this result and that the gains were great.

Quite so, it seems that Croatian players have issues with weeker teams, it's something that should be dealt with by their coach. However, I still see them as favourites and it's not too late to make the things right. Next match is the chance for them to get back on the track.i still bet on them so so I hope I will not be disappointed at the end.

It seems that this is part of the Croatian mentality, that they always play less motivated against weaker teams and give 100% only against the strongest teams.
However, there are no weak teams in this championship and you need to have a serious approach in every game, which Croatian players have probably realized now.
Another big surprise happened at the World Cup, Russia beat Slovenia 31:25 which is just a confirmation of how unpredictable and uncertain this competition is.

[tyKiwanuka]

Despite my earlier words of the smaller teams catching up, I am going with Denmark -17.5 today. They already comfortably beat the HC against Bahrain with 34-20 and well, DRC is one of the poorest teams in this WC. Although they have one big fella I'm a bit scared of.....


Source: https://img.olympicchannel.com/images/image/private/t_16-9_760/f_auto/v1538355600/primary/r9cwdayimyka9zazmuvu

.....Gauthier Mvumbi, 192cm, 110kg, looks a bit more kg's, if you ask me. He could play in NFL with that frame Or Darts

Apart from Jakobsen, Denmark has all players available, so no worries on that end. DRC had a very good first half against Argentina, which they even won, so I was looking for a second half HC on Denmark, but didn't find one. Normally these small teams fade a little bit more towards the end of the game, because they are just gassed and not used to play on a high and fast level for 60 minutes. This could happen here as well, so I will probably add a smaller HC inplay at HT, if available.

[snipie]

First serious day of Championship today and nobody posting any picks, makes me sad  
I wanted to copy some good ideas and now you made me make my own so here it goes:

Probably because not many people follow the handball here on bitcointalk. I have seen this first thread dedicated to handball in this section.
Can you tell me where are you betting on these matches ?

Didn't notice the topic personally until now although it was created a week ago. I will not bet on it, I will just follow few games whenever I have free time. New young players in different teams made me a little sceptic.
Today I watched Brazil vs Tunisia which was leading with 4 goals difference but couldn't manage to keep that gap and the game end with a draw. At the last minute there was a controversial goal? for Tunisia but was cancelled.